Sunday, July 29, 2012

Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover!

I am not disturbed by the fact the Big Boy and his pals are marching down the street with a gorilla on the cover of Adventures of Big Boy #2 (1976), because that's the kind of awesome thing that should happen all of the time. No, I disturbed because the gorilla has very skinny legs, and he's wearing jeans. And shoes. That's just not right.

(Standard disclaimer about marching gorillas not really being monkeys applies.)

N = New listing appearing on list for first time
R = Item returning to the list after having been off for 1 or more weeks

Commentary:

For a third straight week, Batman: Earth One is at the top of the chart, and is #65 overall on Amazon. It spent most of the week wrapping places with The Dark Knight Returns and The Third Wheel, but when the wheel stopped on Friday morning it was Earth One in first place.

Bat Watch: An impressive eighteen Batman titles in the top fifty this week—up eight from last week—four of the top five and seven of the top ten. In case anyone is wondering, this is what it looks like when your popular movie is driving comic sales.

Two of those eighteen are new editions of old Batman material making their top fifty debut: A Death in the Family and a deluxe hardcover of Year One (in fact, there are three different editions of Batman: Year One on the chart). This only other debut this week is Jeff Lemire's OGN The Underwater Welder.

Dead Watch: There are just six Walking Dead collections on the chart this week, down ten from last week as Batman takes his toll against the zombies.

N = New listing appearing on list for first time
R = Item returning to the list after having been off for 1 or more weeks

Commentary:

For the third week in a row, Batman: Earth One is at the top of the chart, though it slips some to #58 on the overall Amazon chart.

Bat Watch: Thirteen Batman titles on the chart this week, up three from last week, and four of those are in the top ten. Not quite the dominance that The Walking Dead had earlier in the year, but still pretty impressive.

Dead Watch: Speaking of WD, there are eleven collections on the chart this week as the post SDCC & issue #100 glow fades a bit. Don't worry, when the show resumes in a few months there will no doubt be another Dead surge.

The only debut title this week is the new Blacksad graphic novel, and it is way down at the bottom of the list.

N = New listing appearing on list for first time
R = Item returning to the list after having been off for 1 or more weeks

Commentary:

Batman: Earth One remains at the top of the chart for a second week, and is currently #26 on the overall Amazon books chart. This is a perfect example of how to time a graphic novel release with an upcoming movie (Marvel and others should take note...)

More surprising is the sudden leap that Get Jiro! takes to the #2 slot (and #68 overall), very likely the cause of a non-comics media mention somewhere.

The top debut this week is the second massive Walking Dead Compendium, now available for pre-order. Other debuts include a new Locke & Key volume; the Kindle edition of Batman: Earth One; Darwyn Cooke's new Parker adaptation; and the New 52 Batman & Robin hardcover collection.

Dead Watch: A surprising surge by The Walking Dead this week, as many titles return to the top fifty, including all of the hardcover collections. There as sixteen WD collections on the chart this week, way up from last week's four. Perhaps publicity surrounding the release of the the comic books 100th issue is the cause?

Bat Watch: Ten Batman titles on the list this week, up one from last week. Between Batman and The Walking Dead, that's half of this week's chart...

N = New listing appearing on list for first time
R = Item returning to the list after having been off for 1 or more weeks

Commentary:

This week's new number one is Batman: Earth One, as the new OGN leaps over the top ten to land on the top of the Amazon comics chart. Which leads up right into...

Bat Watch: Nine Batman titles on the chart this week. Which is actually down one from last week, but of those that remain eight show significant jumps upward.

Batman sales are no doubt helped by the eminent release of the new Dark Knight movie in a couple of weeks. But compare that to Spider-Man, which despite being the current #1 movie at the box office doesn't show up on the comics chart even once. Clearly DC have a better idea on how to turn movie interest into comic sales than their chief competitor.

This week's top debut, the first volume in Fantagraphics' Uncle Scrooge stories by the legendary Carl Barks, narrowly misses the top ten. Other debuts include new volumes of Fables, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Sailor Moon; and the Kindle edition of the upcoming Fever Moon graphic novel.

Dead Watch: Only four Walking Dead collections on the chart this week, though two of those are still in the top ten.